Last month I asked you all to name the tune that had been buzzing around in my head for the past ten years. The response was overwhelming with a massive two readers that correctly identified the tune as a Philip Glass piece.

The piece is called “Facades“. It was composed in 1981 by Philip Glass and was to used in Godfrey Reggio’s film KOYAANISQATSI, although it was cut from the final edit.

The version I’d heard was conducted by Michael Riesman and performed by Jack Kripl and the Philip Glass Ensemble. The original string part of Facades – one violin, one violoncello, plus synth – is a program in Eleanor Sandresky’s keyboard. Jon Gibson’s soprano sax solo here was played in real time.

My thanks go to Steve at webishnet for putting me out of my misery. Special thanks to Eamon the postman for suggesting The Thin Blue Line, you were close (which is not difficult considering all Glass’ stuff sounds the same) but not quite right.